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Jaina Monuments of Orissa
Yakşas, Rakṣāsas, Kinnaras, Kimpurașas, Mahārāgas (Nägas) and Gandharvas. Each group has on its crest the symbol of a tree) in the following order-the Kadam ba Sulasa, Vata, Khatvānga, Asoka, Champak, Näga and Tumbaru according to the Svetāmbara tradition. The Digambara list substitutes the Badari-tree for the Khatyānga. Khatvānga alone does not seem to be a tree in the Svetāmbara list.
Belief in auspicious dreams is very ancient in India. When a would be Tirthankara descends from heaven into earth his mother sees certain dreams which are regarded as auspicious. According to the Svetāmbara belief the mother sees fourteen different objects in the dream, while according to the Digambara sect the dreams are sixteen in number. The fourteen dreams seen by the mother of Mahāvīra are described in detail in the Kalpa Sutra. (1) a white elephant, large and beautiful with four tusks, (2) a white bull surrounded by diffusion of light, with a charming hump and horns greased at lips, (3) a sportive lion, white and beautiful, with a flapping tail and protruding tongue, (4) the goddess Sri, four armed, adorned with ornaments, carrying the lotuses and lustrated by elephants, (5) a garland of various flowers, (6) the full moon, (7) the red sun, (8) a wondrous beautiful banner fastened to a golden staff, with a lion on top, (9) a full vase, filled with water and lotuses, the abode of fortune, (10) a large lake full of lotuses and acquatic animals, (11) the ocean of milk, with agitated water, full of acquatic animals, (12) the celestial palace (devavimāna) of numerous columns with hanging garlands, decorated with pictures of sculptures, (13) the jewel-heap (ratnarasi) with all sorts of jewels, and (14) smokeless fire with flame in constant motion.
Kalpa Sutra miniatures show representations of these dreams either alone or in a group. Dreams are also represented in stone reliefs of the lives of different Jinas. Representation of sixteen dreams are popular amongst the Digambara Jainas and are often carved on door lintels of shrines, an early specimen of these being available on the door frame of the Sāntinātha temple at Khajuraho.3
K.S. Behera' finds traces of these dreams in the relief sculptures of AnantaGumphā of Khandagiri and Alakāpuri-Gumphā of Udayagiri.
The tympana of Ananta-Gumpha are specially noteworthy for their carvings. Beginning from the left, the first tympanum shows in low relief a four tusked elephant flanked by attending elephants of which the left one alone is preserved. The elephant which is shown in profile, carries a lotus stalk and buds for the noble elephant in the centre. A lotus is held up similarly on the right side but the attending elephant is missing. This suggested that the relief represents a scene from Chhadanta Jätaka where the elephant king is shown with his two wives. N.K. Sahu' refers to this suggestion but he is more inclined to identify the royal elephant of the first tympanum with the rain producing white elephant of the Vessāntara Jātaka which averted drought and famine in
3. U.P. Shah, Ibid, p. 489. 4. Proceedings of the International Seminar on Buddhism & Jainism, Cuttack, 1976. 5. N.K. Sahu, History of Orissa, Vol. I, p. 385
